Unification: The Anunnaki Unification Book 5

by Michele Briere

  “Alright,” Jack said, releasing him. “Go home and change your clothes, first, and call me if you go anyplace else. Eight PM. You may have forty dollars out of my stash.”

  “Thank you!”

  “Don’t spend it all on crap!”

  “I will!”

  “I thought he’d sleep for days, after the weekend you guys had,” Mary said. Harley was finally asleep and napping against her shoulder.

  “He’s a boy,” Jack shrugged. “He slept for about nine hours and then he was on the go again.”

  “Jack’s brother Michael was down for the count until just before the ceremony,” Sam told Mary. “Called this morning and did nothing and complain about all his aches and pains. He forced himself out of bed.”

  “He’s an old man,” Jack said, the side of his mouth tipping up in amusement. He flexed an arm, making a muscle. Sam shot a napkin at him. Jack’s cell phone rang.

  “O’Neill. Hey, Andy, what’s up? Who? Where is he? Alright, thanks; I’ll deal with it.”

  “Do we have anyone in orbit?” he asked Sam.

  “Just the Heaven’s Bow,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  Jack looked around and motioned to Reynolds. “Colonel, take a couple of guys and get over to the Mountain Deli on 3rd. Corporal Servi has apparently parted with a fuse and is zatting the cold cuts.”

  As Reynolds nodded, kissed his wife and touched his son’s head and left after motioning to his team, Jack had an image in his head. He looked around and swiped a crayon from the kids’ table. Sam and Mary watched him begin drawing on a napkin. It only took five minutes before he paused, considered his sketch, and then nodded. He handed it to Sam.

  “It’s a zat,” she said, looking from the napkin to Jack.

  “It’s how to turn off the third setting,” he said. “I don’t think they were meant to stay on a 3-zat setting. It was probably a war-time thing and the Jaffa didn’t know to change it back.”

  She looked at it again and patted his shoulder. “Good Jack. It’s a start.”

  “And let’s find out why Corporal Servi has a zat, shall we?”

  Daniel came up behind Sam and gently lifted the baby from her, handed Olivia to Jack, and took Sam’s hand. Jack watched them head to the dancing section of the grass.

  “So. Mary. How’s tricks?”

  The party list had been small, just immediate friends. Paul wasn’t too sure that anyone else would be interested, but Daniel convinced him to invite a few of the SGC and HomeSec personnel that he had worked closely with over the past year. Paul was sure they would make an excuse not to attend, but to his surprise almost everyone on his list accepted. Some of the old-timers like Mrs. Arthur politely refused. The new Mrs. Hammond made her regrets only because the timing was bad; her youngest daughter was in labor and she and George were heading to Maine to greet the new grandbaby. Ronnie showed up, and on the arm of Nyan who was almost a complete head shorter. Jack wondered exactly how much Nyan was aware of with his new date.

  What stunned Paul more was the addition of his own family. His cousins chided him for not contacting them sooner. Not all of them were so conservative. They lived in California and Oregon, for the love of G-d! Jack made a mental note to send out invitations to his own family for their summer cookout. Joey had already knocked him in the shoulder and threatened to arrest him, if he didn’t keep the lines of communication open.

  “Mary, is it a good thing for our kids to be making eyes at each other?” Jack asked, looking out over Olivia’s tiny shoulder. Mary followed his gaze. Katie and Josh were sitting close and smiling shyly at each other as they talked.

  “Well, I supposed I can deal with you as a possible in-law,” Mary informed him.

  “Much better than Malek,” Jack muttered.

  “I’ve met Malek,” she said. “I thought he was a very nice person.”

  “He has a snake in him, Mary.”

  Harley was waking up and she wiped the sleep-sweat from his face with a napkin dampened with water.

  “Isn’t there a difference between Tok’ra and Goa’uld?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he reluctantly admitted.

  “So you’re damning him for the color of his skin?”

  Jack looked at her from over Olivia’s shoulder. “Kevin has lived with you for how long?”

  “I have allowed him to live for twenty years come this November.”

  “I thought this was a patriarchy?” he asked the sky.

  “That’s a fallacy,” Mary commented, pressing kisses to her son’s round cheeks.

  Jack looked suspiciously at her.

  “Davis!” he called out. “Remind me to have a conference with Colonel Reynolds.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Jack.” Inanna came up and sat, buzzing Olivia before handing Jack her palm pilot. “We need to talk.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jack sighed. He put Olivia down and she immediately grabbed legs, trying to keep on her feet before falling to her knees. She wasn’t happy about it, and then spotted Daniel and Sam and began a determined crawl toward them. Adults carefully stepped around her and made sure she was safe from big people feet.

  Henry would be relocating to Colorado come the following January after officially transferring the reigns of the presidency to whomever won the November elections. The HomeSec council had accepted Henry’s nomination as the Tau’ri representative to the United Worlds council. When not dealing with galactic issues, Henry would be a full-time grandpa.

  The world was beginning a steadily increasing demand for alien technology and alien cures, and Henry’s current job was to study up on projects and determine the order of what would be released to the public, when, and the timeline. Henry thought it would be easy until he was handed the list of projects verses needs. Once he was the Tau’ri representative, he was going to have to think as a Tau’ri, not an American.

  Inanna needed Jack to look through a few borderline admissions to the unification. The council was split down the middle and unable to come to an agreement. Just before Jack put his two-cents on the board, he paused.

  “I’m missing something,” he guessed, seeing Inanna in her ‘waiting for him to get it’ mode.

  “Are you?” she asked. “What?” She was speaking Ancient. Daniel or Sam had gotten to her.

  He thought about it. “I can’t reach across the galaxy,” he told her. She shrugged.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” she admitted. “The Ancients can tell when someone violates their laws from anywhere in the universe.”

  Jack carefully considered her. “Why don’t you read them?” he asked.

  She smiled. “I could,” she said with a nod. “But how would that help everyone else? If we know that one proposed representative has a negative agenda and we refuse to allow the planet in because of that person, how do we know that the person wasn’t set to be immediately replaced by someone who DID represent the good of the planet? We can’t judge an entire civilization based on one idiot. Take your former president as an example.”

  Jack lifted an eyebrow and considered only the summary commentaries on the screen. “Point,” he acknowledged. Both Inanna and Bre’tac gave a tentative thumb’s up, so Jack granted a provisionary status.

  “You contacted Argos?” he questioned, seeing the planet on the list. “Do you really think they’re ready to take on the galaxy? They haven’t even cut their primary molars yet.”

  “They are an innocent people, yes. A visiting SG team mentioned the United Worlds and the people all agreed that they wanted to discover what they’ve been missing.” Inanna frowned in memory. “It’s a terrible thing that was done to them, I agree; I have volunteered to look after them myself. I explained to them how a few of us take on the role of mentor for certain civilizations and they were grateful for the guidance. Their growth should prove interesting. Jack, I do ask that you grant me this favor.”

  He thought about it. “This will be a seriously big favor,” he warned. “I don’t think they’re
ready.”

  “No, they’re not,” she agreed. “Which is why I’d like to be their guide. And I accept the onus.”

  “Alright,” he said, shaking his head as he signed the list.

  “Jack, you should know that Edora is on our agenda.”

  He sat back, watching the party settle into small, friendly discussion groups. Paul and Nick were surrounded by cousins all intent on updating Paul with information and getting the low-down on his life during the past ten years.

  “She asked after you. She’s happy, Jack; she remarried. Would you like to….”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. After being stranded on Edora for three months when their gate was buried, he fought it, but knew he had to survive. She wasn’t the woman he wanted, but he could have survived with her and her son. He may have even fallen in love with them. Almost. “I’m glad she’s doing well. Add Edora to the Protected Worlds list. I’ll sign it.”

  Inanna nodded and stood. She pressed her mouth to the top of his head and took her note pad back.

  “Salim, ahu,” she murmured, touching his cheek and going to find something to eat.

  Jack searched himself and found that he was at peace with his decision. He had been right to leave Laira. It was loneliness that had made his initial decision to stay on Edora, and it had been Sam and Daniel that made him return home. He was fine with it. Davy leaned against his knees, holding his face up. Jack smiled and stroked his cheek.

  “Daddy, will I get married one day?” he asked.

  “I hope so,” Jack said. “Do you have anyone in mind?”

  “No,” Davy smiled and shook his head. “Is it okay if I marry a girl and a boy like you did?”

  Jack studied him. “Do you like boys, too?”

  “I guess so,” Davy said, lifting a shoulder. “I think some boys are pretty just like I think some girls are pretty.”

  “As long as you are happy, you can marry anyone you want,” Jack told him, stroking a lock of silky hair from the boy’s face. “You need a haircut again.”

  Later in the evening, Jack was still smiling to himself as he stepped out of the shower and returned to the bedroom.

  “What are you smiling about?” Sam asked, taking off her earrings.

  “Davy,” Jack said and told them about his conversation with the boy.

  “Not surprising,” Daniel said around a pen in his mouth. He took the pen out. “He sees a person’s heart, not their gender.”

  Since Sam was ‘indisposed,’ Jack crawled onto Daniel, dislodging the notebook.

  “You know, one of these days I’m going to make you say pretty please first,” Daniel informed him as Jack wiggled Daniel’s pajama bottoms off.

  “Pretty please.”

  Chapter 55

  Jerrie was bending over them, gently shaking Jack’s shoulder.

  “Sir, urgent call,” she whispered, holding out the phone. Jack took it from her.

  “What?” he grunted into the phone. A moment later he sat up. “That has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve heard in a while,” he said as he shook Daniel awake. “Bring home whoever is nearby and have them wait for my call.” He handed the phone back to Jerrie and looked at the other side of the bed, just to make sure. Sam was definitely not in bed.

  “What’s going on?” Daniel asked, rubbing his eyes and searching for his glasses. Jack had jumped out of bed and began hauling his clothes on.

  “Apparently someone let Major Coulter onto the base and he’s locked himself and Sam in her office.”

  Daniel hopped out of bed and also began to dress. “Who’s in the solar system?”

  “Europa can be here in about an hour,” Jack said. “They need to round up their scientists from a couple of moons at Saturn.”

  They left Jerrie holding the fort and sped out to HomeSec. Jack used a few back roads, kicking up dirt. Local police considered stopping him but decided that there must be something happening, for the general to be driving recklessly. They ran through a side-door, into the building, and down to the lab. The arch was already up and waiting for them. Jack and Daniel ran through and came out at the Area 51 lab.

  “Someone turn the shields off and report!” Jack shouted.

  “Sir, Major Coulter is demanding his record cleared and an honorable discharge,” Lt. Wilson said as she jogged alongside the men.

  “How’d he get in?” Jack asked.

  “He convinced a few friends on staff that he left personal belongings in the office and he needed them back. He waited until I took a short break, sir,” she reported.

  “Everyone deserves a pee-break, Lieutenant,” Jack said. “I’m not blaming you for this. I do want the names of those ‘friends’ of his, though.”

  The SF outside Sam’s office stood aside for the general and let him in. Jack held up a hand, halting those behind him. He quickly felt around for Sam’s energy pattern within himself. She was alive and a little irritated, but not afraid.

  “She’s fine,” he told them. Wilson didn’t understand but Daniel did. Jack hesitated and then opened the intercom to Sam’s office. “Major? It’s General O’Neill. You’ve got my colonel and wife in there. You know how this will end, so how about we cut to the chase?”

  “The charges against me are bogus, General,” came the major’s voice through the intercom. “I want them dropped and I want an honorable discharge.”

  “Major, it ain’t gonna happen,” Jack told him. “Especially not if you continue to hold Colonel Carter hostage. I’m not negotiating, Major. You release her, and then you and I will talk.” He pulled Daniel close and whispered. Daniel gave a nod and left the room.

  “Major, both your wife and your daughter have been treated multiple times for bruises and sprains,” Jack said. “How do you explain that?”

  “I wouldn’t hurt my family, sir,” Coulter said. “My wife is clumsy, sir. It wasn’t me.”

  “There are several reports from your neighbors about loud fights,” Jack said.

  “We argue, sir,” Coulter said. “All married couples argue.”

  “Yes, they do,” Jack admitted. “Most married couples don’t end up in the emergency room, though. The colonel in there can tell you we argue, just ask her. But we have never lifted a hand to each other. Are you going to tell me that you’ve never hit your wife? Maybe gotten a little pissed with her and put her back in her place?”

  “That isn’t abuse, General; it’s my right to reprimand her,” Coulter insisted. “My marriage is not the business of the military. I love my wife, and you and everyone else is out of line interfering in my business.”

  “Spousal and child abuse is the business of the military, Major,” Jack said. “Under the Family Advocacy Program: each branch of the military services has a Family Advocacy Program that operates in accordance with DoD Directive 6400.1. They are designed to prevent child and spousal abuse, to promote early identification and intervention in cases of alleged child and spousal abuse, and to provide programs of rehabilitation and treatment for child and spousal abuse problems. To the maximum extent possible, DoD cooperates with responsible civilian authorities in efforts to address the problems to which this Directive applies. Each branch of service maintains a central registry containing data on reports of alleged child and spousal abuse.”

  As Jack continued to quote military regulations at Coulter via the intercom, he kept looking at his watch. He stopped in mid-sentence after hearing a crash in the room.

  “Major? What’s going on in there?” Jack called out.

  “Coming out,” he heard Sam call. The door opened. Sam tugged on her jacket and smoothed her hair into place. She had a scratch on her cheek, but nothing more. “You can take him, now,” she said. “He’s probably going to have a doozy of a headache when he wakes up.” She looked at her nails and frowned before buffing them on her uniform.

  The SF went in and cuffed the man lying on the floor before shaking him awake. Jack looked at him.

  “What took you so long?” he
asked.

  “He had a gun on me and I couldn’t reach him,” she said. “He started pacing when you wouldn’t shut up, and when he came near I kicked him in the groin and punched the side of his head. He went out like a light.”

  Jack canceled the Europa and had Coulter taken downstairs into the dungeon. He sent Daniel down to monitor the deposition that Barrett would be conducting via the Tok’ra memory device. He hated that nasty toy, but it did come in handy.

  “Did you have breakfast yet?” Jack asked Sam.

  “Yes, I did,” she said. “But I can use some lunch.”

  Her admin looked from one to the other and decided to take Colonel Davis’ advice and not ask.

  While Sam got her office back in order Jack went down to the dungeon to check on Daniel. Ex-NID Agent Barrett was sitting with Daniel. Jack didn’t like the look on their faces. Barrett motioned and Jack bent down.

  “This man is deep undercover,” Barrett whispered. “He’s Trust. We’re extracting as much information as we can. I’d like to take him off-world to Delta site.”

  “What’s Delta site?” Jack whispered. Barrett gave him a look.

  “His wife and daughter are caught in the middle; I suggest telling them he’s been killed in an accident. Nothing left of his body.” He handed Jack Coulter’s tags.

  “Alright,” Jack said and put the tags in his pocket. “Keep him on ice until Prometheus can get here; I don’t want him anywhere near the SGC. And find out how he got in this far.”

  “Working on it,” Barrett said. “He’s been programmed pretty well. I’d say the Trust is using one of these Tok’ra devices on their own people.”

  “Great,” Jack said, puffing noisily. He thought hard and then hit a speed dial on his cell phone. “Did you find anything unusual in Coulter’s background? He’s a mole. The Trust. No, Barrett is taking him to Delta site. You and Paul take your week. I insist. Nick, you’re allowed to miss one, now and again.”